SPORTS / Hard work a net asset for teen tennis champ

Jordan Robertson, Special to The Chronicle

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 31, 2002

If loading up on advanced placement classes foretold a dramatically improved tennis game, then last year Pramod Dabir could have been as sure of receiving a top-5 national ranking as he was receiving a tough final exam in chemistry.

At the time, Dabir was a junior at Cupertino's Monta Vista High School and had struggled on the court, coming out of a sophomore slump that almost caused him to quit the game altogether. But he had never faltered academically, and was on an Ivy League track, committed to studying for his first four of nine advanced placement tests.

The relationship was symbiotic: Dabir's sports background helped him stay focused even when putting in up to six hours of studying a night, and the tough course work ultimately pushed him on the tennis court.

The result: As he worked harder in the classroom, Dabir said, he also worked harder at his sport, particularly his forehand. He finished the season ranked first in Northern California in 18s and among the nation's top 50 in 16s. And it got better.

Terry Cress, head tennis coach at Monta Vista, said Dabir has been instrumental in keeping alive the school's win streak in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's De Anza Division. Led by Dabir, who has lost only three times this season, Monta Vista recently claimed its sixth league title in a row.

The team is also angling for a repeat in the Central Coast Section tournament; it has won the section the last five years.

"He's overall very solid," Cress said. "You can't find a weakness, and that's what makes him so good. If there is one thing he could work it's his serve return, which he has been working on, and you can see a difference."

Saying Dabir's play is "intimidating" to opponents, Cress indicated his confident manner on the court as a key reason for his success.

"He never feels like he's in trouble," Cress said. "He's just very smooth. You watch him and you say, 'How can he be so smooth?' -- he never looks like he's struggling."

Thin and lanky at just over 6 feet and 145 pounds, Dabir, who looks younger than his age, doesn't appear at first to be an intense competitor, said teammate Robert Yee, a 17-year-old junior.

"Just looking at him right now," Yee said at a recent match, "you just don't get that feeling. But when he steps on the court, he just turns into another person and it belongs to him; it's his court and you have to win it from him."

Dabir said he finished the regular season this year ranked 15th in the nation. Although he said he was accepted to Harvard, Dabir will instead be attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to study electrical engineering. Illinois' top-flight engineering program and tennis team, he said,

were reasons he chose it over the Ivy League.

But he has a few big tournaments before he goes, namely the Futures pro qualifiers in Chico and Sunnyvale that could set his pro career in motion.

"It's just more practice -- good experience getting ready for the college team," he said, "because I know it will be very tough to get on that team, and I want to win a national title."